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Chapter Twenty-Five

Natalie

Terror, deeper and more pure than anything I’ve ever felt before pounds through my veins as my bare feet slap against the marble tile of the entryway.

My gaze skitters toward the front door, but I immediately reject that idea.

Even fully clothed and wearing shoes, I wouldn’t stand a chance outside.

In my current state, I wouldn’t get more than a few feet before he caught up with me.

I don’t just need to run. I need to hide . Somewhere, anywhere, at least until I can come up with some kind of explanation for what he saw on the computer.

Taking a hard left, I make a dash for the library.

He caught me there once, yes, but over the past couple weeks I’ve been exploring the house whenever he would let me.

And I recently discovered a secret passage hidden behind one of the bookcases, just like in the movies.

If I can hide there, even just for a short while, I might have a hope of saving my life.

Because I’m under no delusion that the punishment for a betrayal of this magnitude will be a simple spanking. Men like Evander Hawthorne don’t get the reputation he has for showing mercy.

Skidding to a stop in front of the large bookcase, I press my lips together, trying desperately to smother the gasping sound of my own breathing as I scan the books in front of me.

When my gaze lands on the large, leather-bound copy of Wuthering Heights , I nearly sob with relief. Grabbing the top of the spine, I give it a yank and a door to my right swings open.

But just as I’m about to make a dash for my sanctuary, an arm wraps around my waist, lifting me into the air.

“Naughty, naughty little kitten.”

Something inside me snaps at the furious growl of his voice. If he wants a kitten, I’ll give him a fucking hellcat.

Kicking, fighting with everything I have in me, I dig my nails into his forearm, dragging them down his flesh. Blood glistens in the pale moonlight streaming through the windows and triumph pounds in my chest at his roar of pain.

“You are so going to regret that, little girl.”

“Let me go!”

“So you can run off again and send that email? Not a fucking chance.”

“I won’t send it.” Fighting hasn’t worked, so maybe begging will. I’m too terrified to be embarrassed by it anymore. “Please, I swear I won’t send it. Just let me go, send me back to New York, and you’ll never hear another word from me ever again.”

“This again?” With a rather impressive snarl that would have given the Beast a run for his money, he stalks over to a chair and sits, flipping me over his knee all in the same move.

“What is it going to take to get you to understand that you are mine , Natalie? And I am never fucking letting you go.”

Before I can even process his words, my diaper is ripped from me and his hard hand slams into my unprotected bottom.

The force of it rips a shocked yelp from my throat even as he spanks me again, and then again.

Fast, hard swats that barely give me any time to breathe, never mind think as he lights my ass on fire.

“You belong to me, little girl. And the next time you so much as think about asking me to send you back to New York, I will whip your ass every night until I am one hundred percent convinced you understand where you belong. Do you understand me?”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry! Please, Daddy, I’m sorry!”

“I didn’t ask for an apology, Natalie Quinn. I asked if you understand that you fucking belong to me and I am not ever sending you back. Do you understand me ?”

Every word is punctuated with the hardest spanks I’ve ever felt, hard enough to have the truth pouring out of my mouth before I can think better of it. “I don’t know!”

His hand stills, and his voice is a low growl when he speaks. “What do you mean, you don't know?”

“I d-don’t know! I thought you were gonna—” The actual words stick in my throat. “Send me to sleep with the fishes.”

“Jesus fucking Christ. You thought I was going to kill you?”

“M-Maybe.”

To my horror, the spanking starts all over again, somehow ever harder and faster than before.

“You put that nonsense out of your head right fucking now, little girl. I would end anyone who dared to harm a single hair on your head. You hear me? I would never let any harm come to you, and that sure as hell includes at my own hand.”

Hot tears that are both pain and relief rush down my cheeks as I choke out my answer. “Y-yes, Daddy!”

“Good.” With two final swats, he ends the spanking and just as easily as he flipped me over his knee, he sits me up again, cradling me close as I weep into his chest. “What in the actual hell made you think I would kill you?”

It takes me a moment to stop crying enough to actually talk to him. “The email. I just thought… I didn’t think that was the kind of betrayal a man like you could forgive.”

“Ah.” There’s a world of understanding in that single syllable. “If it were anybody but you, then you’d probably be right. But no, kitten, I have no intention of killing you. Paddling your ass until sitting comfortably is nothing but a fond memory, on the other hand…”

“Didn’t you just do that?”

His laugh is loud and humorless. “That? No, kitten, that was just your spanking for clawing the fuck out of my arm. We still have to deal with you sneaking out of bed, breaking into Daddy’s computer, trying to expose our family’s secrets, and running from Daddy.

Trust me when I say the spanking you just got is only the tip of a very large iceberg. ”

“Would it help if I said I was really, really sorry?”

“I suppose that depends on whether or not you actually are sorry.”

I open my mouth to assure him that I am, then snap it closed again.

Am I sorry I did all those things? Or am I just sorry I got caught?

The answer, when it comes, surprises even me. “I am actually sorry. The last thing I want is to hurt our family and I know that email would have done irreparable damage.”

“Then why did you write it?”

“Because I don’t know how to let it go,” I whisper, my voice thick with fresh tears. “How do I turn my back on everything I know to be right and good? Uncle Max and Uncle Gideon… the way they went about bringing Tori and Izzy to the island, it’s just wrong .”

“You’re right.”

Of all the answers I expected him to give, that wasn’t even on my radar. Pushing away from his chest, I stare up at him. “What did you say?”

“I said you’re right. What they did was immoral and illegal. There’s not really any other way to look at it.”

“So how do I get past that? It’s not even about the story anymore, though I’d be lying if I said I didn’t really want that Pulitzer. But what about just doing the right thing? Don’t I owe Tori and Izzy that?”

“Do you think they want that?”

Pausing again, I frown as I think back over our bedtime conversation. “No… but what if it’s just like, Stockholm Syndrome or whatever? What if they’ve just been brainwashed to think this is what they want?”

“Well, you’ve spent a good bit of time with them over the past few weeks. What do you think? Do you really think they’ve been brainwashed?”

“No.” Some of the weight lifts off my chest as I blow out a shaky breath. “No. We talked about it a lot tonight and no, I don’t think they’re brainwashed. They really seem to love it here.”

“And do you think they’d thank you for getting their Daddies sent to prison?”

“No… but sometimes doing the right thing means doing the unpopular thing.”

“Can you accept that maybe in this situation, the lines between right and wrong are just a little blurrier than you’re used to?

” Holding up a hand, he cuts off my protests before I can even give voice to them.

“I’m not saying what my brothers did was in any way right or moral.

What I am saying is that they managed to build a life here with women who absolutely adore them.

Izzy and Tori are happy here, happier than they ever were back in New York.

So, maybe, that happiness was worth breaking a few laws. ”

“Maybe…”

“Let me ask you this.” His eyes meet mine in the moonlight, so dark they’re like black pools.

“Would you want someone to write about me? To send me to prison for what I did to get you here? After all, I was just as devious as Maxwell. I left a trail for you to follow, paved your way, and when you got here, I refused to let you leave. There’s a whole list of laws I’ve broken to make you mine, Natalie. Do you want to send me to prison?”

That answer, for once, isn’t a surprise. “No. And I’d kill anyone who tried.”

A wide grin stretches across his face as he tucks a stray lock of hair behind my ear. “There’s my bloodthirsty little lion. Now, do you think you’ve been brainwashed? Do you think you’re suffering from Stockholm Syndrome?”

“No.”

“So don’t you think you should give your friends that same benefit of the doubt? That they know their own minds and that despite how they came to be here, the fact that they’re happy now is really all that matters?”

“I get what you’re saying. But it’s not really that easy. I don’t just want to write their stories, I need to write them. It’s like an itch under my skin I can’t quite scratch. And the thought of never writing them, of never writing anything again… I don’t know if I can give that up, even for you.”

Silence greets my confession, broken only by the thundering of my heart. After a long while, he speaks, his voice soft yet urgent. “Can you trust me enough, just for a little while, to believe that I’ll find a way to give you everything you want and need?”

Trust. That’s what it always comes down to between us. I’ve put more trust in him than I’ve ever put in another human being.

So what’s a little more?

“Yes, Daddy. I trust you.”